Mass Effect : Dissonance
by Faithless wanderer
Summary: Commander Shepard Hero of humanity Paragon of society, a well known character but not all men can be so strong throughout every battle, even the best of us can fall so low as to accept your vilest enemies as your sworn compatriots


**Hey everyone Faithless here, I know its been awhile but what can i say i've been a bit of a rough ride, I got ...sad i guess but I'm trying to get back in the groove of things so I'm going to post some new stories that i told you guys about before and let you enjoy those while i go back and get the older stories updated**

 **Anyway enjoy this one**

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Commander shepard awoke with a gasp, his body ached and his mind was filled with a great amount of confusion

There were alarms ringing and light flashing

Shepard pushed his hand towards his face and rubbed his eyes

Trying with great difficulty to focus

The last thing he remembered was being inside the citadel

It was filled with bodies and Anderson had just bleed out in his arms after they finally killed the illusive man

Shepard looked around the room with a creeping sense of deja vu

"I recognise this place"

"Shepard get up you have to get moving"

That voice only confirmed shepards suspicion

He was back in the Lazarus project

Was he trapped inside his own memories, was this the fate he was damned to by the reapers for fighting them

To be trapped inside his own mind

"Shepard stop standing around and get your ass moving there's no time to explain, things are too dangerous, there's a pistol at the table near you reach it"

Shepard decided to keep his mouth shut and get up deciding to play along with the situation

He carefully stood and repeated the very things that played out last time

"This weapon doesn't have any ammunition"

"There's some thermal clips you can collect up ahead just keep moving"

Shepard was very tempted to call out to Miranda and actually speak to her by name but he decided that if this was a reaper trick then he'd follow along just waiting for a chance

to...he wasn't really sure what to do but he wasn't about to stop yet, he'd figure it out when the time came

Shepard soon fell into a calm stroll remembering the people he couldn't save no matter how frantically he tried before

But this time as he walked along watching the scientist and doctors being killed by the rampaging mechs he felt little more than pity

Shepard remembering how lacking in resources he was during the war and how abundant resources were during this small time window when he was with cerberus decided to snoop around and try to see if there was anything useful to collect before the station went bye bye

He found some credits and a bit of information as well as finding out just how much money the illusive man funnelled into resurrecting him

Almost made shepard crack a smile to know that all the cerberus credits pooled into shepard was used against cerberus during the war

But shepard moved along letting nothing show as he began to make plans, during this time he had to wander and really think he began to take the first steps towards a new future

Whether or not this was a reaper simulation didn't matter to shepard now, if this was them or some freak cosmic event from his decision to shoot that stupid reaper child hologram

Shepard knew but kept quiet that during the war he was beginning to display clear signs of indoctrination

The dreams and the recurring images of that boy only to see him again inside the citadel representing the reapers made that abundantly clear

But shepard had soldiered on and pushed past the constant fog in his mind and lead the races to unite against extinction

But mistakes were made and shepard trusted in people who screwed around and made messes of situations that were so clearly avoidable

The decision to leave the collector base in the illusive man's hands and then take off and turn himself in to the alliance after the whole destroying a relay was just moronic

His decision to destroy maelon's research bit him on the ass and pissed off Wrex who shepard could have really needed during the war

But shepard now had a chance to change that

And many more mistakes that are now within his reach

Too bad he resurfaced during project lazarus and not before this whole debacle with the reapers began but beggars can't be choosers

'Ok shepard you can do this'

First find Jacob Taylor

It didn't take shepard long to find him hiding behind cover ad the security mech took pot shots at him

Shepard quickly used one of his favorite abilities and biotic charged the wall behind the mechs blowing them away into the pit between them and Jacob

Shepard then used the charge again to jump back towards Jacob

"Damn shepard i heard you were good but you just got back and you're already kicking ass"

" Well i've never been one to just do things slow i saw a chance to hit the ground running"

"And ran you did, right over those damn mechs"

Shepard couldn't help but lightly chuckle

"Alright enough about that, tell who are you"

"Jacob Taylor head of this facilities security, well what's left of it now that these mechs got through it"

"Yeah i saw the damage that their doing"

"These damn mechs have been running rampant for hours, they quickly overan us and now i think i'm the last one left"

"Jacob listen to me, i have many questions for you but for now i need you to do some simple things can you do that"

"Well sure commander what do you need"

"First give me some details about yourself combat experience and abilities"

"Well I'm a biotic and i have combat experience from some years in the alliance"

"Ah that's good, well then follow me were going to get off this damn deathtrap of a station"

Jacob was stumped he could have sworn he had expected shepard to ask him about more than that but shepard just seemed so at ease like this situation was just another day to him

Shepard in turn could see Jacob was shocked that shepard wasn't interrogating him but there really wasn't anything to know that Jacob could share with him

" Ok commander i'll follow you"

Shepard simply responded with a nod and took point, having collected one of the mechs pistols when he slammed them and caused them to drop their weapons as they loosened their grip on impact

Things followed like last time as they wandered through the facility and Jacob gave the same speech throughout the entire walk

Luckily there were some mechs to mill allowing shepard some peace every time from the constant state of deja vu of hearing the same lines he heard before

Then they were interrupted by the radio sounding out filled with wilson's voice and Jacobs responses

It ended the same as last time, wilson screams about getting shot and the line cuts out

Jacob urges shepard to hurry and after abit of running they find wilson sitting near a wall bleeding from a bullet wound in his leg

Shepard let wilson and Jacob talk while he searched for that medigel that he used to heal wilson last time

Once he had it he walked over to wilson

"So you got shot"

"Of course i got shot don't you see that you damn moron, I'm bleeding here aint i"

"Yes but your here alone and i don't see amy mechs"

"Wha- i uh i hobbled in here after escaping some mechs in the next room"

Jacob decided to speak up

"What with all these questions shepard patch him up so we can get moving"

Wilson seeing an opportunity to escape shepards questions gladly changed the subject

" yeah we don't have time there's too much danger we need to get to the shuttles"

Shepard knew that Wilson was just trying to weasel his way out of the situation but shepard already had a plan

A quick process of applying medi gel to wilson allowed things to move forward real quick

Wilson still seemed tense and shepard just kept waiting for wilson to do something stupid so he could deal with him without losing jacobs trust

But Wilson was a coward and just tried to let the mechs do it for him

Sadly for him shepard was too good to be done in by some machines

Finally when they arrived to the door that would lead them to miranda shepard turned and shot wilson in both knees and plucked the gun right out of his hands

Jacob jumped being startled by the sudden action and raised his weapon at shepard

"What the Hell are you doing, are you insane"

"I believe he was the one who released the mechs, it makes sense because from the angle of the wound and from the distinct lack of mech rounds being fired at him when we were traveling here it's obvious"

Wilson only continued to scream grabbing his legs in agony

Shepard merely turned and looked at jacob seeing the doubts on his face

"Open the door Miranda should be nearby she told me to meet her here over the radio when i woke up"

Jacob was doubtful but he wasn't stupid he kept the gun pointed at shepard while with the other he unlocked the door

Miranda quickly appeared with her gun faced towards the door only to have in shoved in jacobs face who jumped backwards in surprise

Miranda seeing wilson on the floor with both knees blown out only smiled in satisfaction

"So who do i have to thank for this little gift Jacob"

Jacob inly frowned and turned to miranda lowering the weapon aimed at shepherds head

"Miranda why aren't you upset, Wilson was your assistant he worked with us"

"Oh do calm down Jacob, Wilson was the one who had the mechs attack us"

Jacob looked like he wanted to refuse her statement, not believing that wilson could have been responsible for all the deaths aboard the station

But shepard chose that moment to speak up

"She's right Jacob, before i met up with you i found recordings from Wilson who was angry that so much money was being funneled towards my recovery, he wanted those funds in his pocket"

Wilson chose that moment speak up finally having adjusted to the pain enough to speak, his hands were still busy trying to plug the bleeding holes in his legs

"I deserved to be paid more- gah"

Shepard used that moment to kick his leg mainly because Wilson was a prick and as a bit of petty revenge for the people who died

Shepard deciding to speed things along started to talk to move things forward

"Anyway so, i shot him to incapacitate him and because i was planning to interrogate him about any other surprises that might be running around like mechs waiting for us by the ships but seeing you exit, I think you can verify that"

Miranda showed a slight amount of surprise for just a second not expecting shepard to be ao astute and capable so fresh after being awoken

Miranda felt a slight amount of smug pride knowing that shepards ability only showcased her grand achievement for resurrecting him in such prime condition

Miranda raised her gun to shoot wilson

" well shepard you were once again correct there were quite the amount of mechs waiting up ahead until i dealt with them, seems to me Wilson was planning himself an ambush for you"

Jacob chose that moment to jump back in

"So he was right, Wilson did this"

Miranda turned to Jacob

"Yes and now" (Bang) " the problem is dealt with"

Shepard turned to Jacob as Miranda walked ahead

"It's alright that you didn't see it coming Jacob, i wouldn't have been suspicious if i hadn't been so thorough looking for answers before i found you"

This seemed to help Jacob collect himself after all if The Commander Shepard told him that it was wasn't his fault he had to believe it

Meanwhile shepard was thinking back to the last time this happened, because even back then he had been suspicious of Wilson only to have miranda prove him right but Jacob didn't need to hear that

Shepard walked ahead while Jacob collected himself, only slowing once he caught up to Miranda who was already inside the shuttle prepping it for launch

"So Miranda, what can you tell me about this whole resurrection business"

Miranda didn't stop what she was doing but her voice rang out a response

"My employer believes you being alive is of paramount importance so he invested large amounts of credits towards raising you from the dead"

Shepard already knowing this decided to push things a bit to see if he really was able to change things a bit from the norm

He tried by altering wilsons fate but he died all the same so he didn't count it

"So tell me then, how does raising me back benefit the illusive man"

Miranda was shocked for a moment before her face got stern and serious, she stopped prepping the shuttle and turned away from the controls to face shepard

"Jacob shouldn't have opened his mouth"

Jacob having caught up by then responded

"Having told him about what?"

"You know damn well Jacob that shepard was NOT to be told Anything until he spoke with the illusive man himself"

Jacob was immediately offended

"I didn't tell him Anything"

"And you expect me to believe that"

"Of course because shepard Never asked, I assumed you told him about us He's seemed calm and collected all the way through this entire situation"

Miranda having decided Jacob wasn't responsible turned towards Shepard who had remained perfectly quiet just watching them

Shepard simply exuded the feeling that he was in control, something that really got Miranda suspicious as this wasn't something in shepard's character files

Jacob feeling the tension decided to enter the shuttle and avoid getting caught in the middle

The silence began to stretch before shepard decided that he let her stew in curiosity for long enough

"Don't be so surprised, I've raised my fair share of Cerberus sites, and not everything i've found has been shared with the alliance after all, we both know cerberus has its fingers in quite the amount of cookie jars"

Miranda merely stood silently for a few seconds but in that time she was running calculations through her mind as this shepard was starting to deviate so greatly from the psychology evaluations taken by the alliance

Shepard was always a smart individual but his intelligence was always relating towards interactions both on and off the battlefield

Shepard was a man of trust but this conversation was starting to create the image that shepard kept things close to the chest

Miranda decided that for now the best thing to do was to continue observations, she needed to determine whether this shift was a result of project Lazarus or simple carelessness on the alliances part in not knowing the 1st human specters true character

"Well Shepard it seems that your quite the little bag of mysteries yourself"

"Well thank you, I have always been a Man of many talents, I pride myself on my ability to Always surprise my opposition"

"Well shepard let me assure you that Cerberus is not the enemy"

"Oh well see, but for now let's get going shall we"

Shepard gestured towards the shuttle, effectively ending their conversation

Jacob merely shifted out of the way as Miranda and Shepard entered the shuttle

There was a palpable tension as Miranda wasn't going to let the conversation they just had go, it simply wasn't in her character to surrender

Exactly what Shepard was counting on, the time he spent with her in the past really helped him get to know all his crew

'hmph and people question the reason i talk to everyone in my ship'

Shepard knew that the last time he went through this he was confused and disoriented along with the shock of being gone for 2 years

But this time he stayed focused and know clearly what he was capable of achieving, death had only slowed him

Miranda trying to orchestrate a situation to gain further insight into Shepard suddenly remembered that she had questions she originally planned to ask him to determine his mental faculties as well as stimulating his cognitive functions and test his memory

"So shepard, I need to ask you some questions to test your memory"

'Next Jacob jumps in and attempts to convince her that there's no point'

Or so shepard thought but Jacob was distracted and seemingly deep in thought

Shepard wasn't sure if this was a success or just luck but being an optimist he decided that this was a small sign of change

Shepard turned his head to Miranda seeing her staring at him

"Alright what would you like to know"

Miranda smiled trying to use her enhanced features to put shepard at ease by making herself appear as non threatening as she could

"Well shepard first question, At the battle for the Citadel you were faced with a tough decision between reserving the alliances fleets for the battle and sacrificing the council, or sending them in to suffer losses in exchange for the lives of the council, so tell me what did you choose and why"

Shepard thought back to his answer from the past, remembering that he saved the council but he answered that the reason he did was because it was the right thing to do

Which now that he thought about it now seemed foolish to do, shepard quickly thought up of a positive argument for this

" Well the choice while difficult at the time was the correct one, I called in the alliance ships to ease the strain on the destiny ascension and save the council, I did so knowing that the lives lost would be high but I did it as well because the citadel council has always had the argument that only species that have proven their worth are deserving of a seat in the citadel council, by saving them i recreated the circumstance of the entrance of the Turians into the galactic agenda, for the small price of Alliance lives i pushed humanity to the forefront of the Citadels agenda"

Jacob once again went off script and spoke up where he was once silent

"So you traded people's lives for the political gain in humanity's favor"

"I saw the opportunity to advance humanity, The council was going to delay humanities place in the galactic agenda for centuries but by doing what i did humanity claimed its place on the council"

Miranda observed shepard answers and was surprised at what she heard, she herself had argued with the illusive man's optimism believing that shepards character would run against the cerberus agenda to advance humanity

Shepard on the other hand was carefully using his responses to claim Miranda's attention he needed her to believe that he held humanities future above all else to push him into a greater role within cerberus, because this time he didn't plan to turn himself in to the alliance no instead he planed to claim all of cerberus to prepare for war against the reapers

Shepard lost too much time being dragged through the muck and imprisoned on earth, time he could've used to prepare the galaxy for war

Too many fools acted out without shepard having the ability to intervene

Shepard was still upset about the entire Quarian Geth war

Hundreds of ships that could've been used to fight the reapers were wasted on bigotry and blind idiocy

Tali did her best to stop them but she was only one person

Miranda having considered shepards answer entered the conversation once more

"Yes your decision to sacrifice a small part of the alliance navy sowed a great amount of faith in humanity, making us the fourth voice on The Citadel Council and allowing us the power to grow both in influence and in the amount of military force"

Shepard felt a small amount of happiness in the knowledge that he had seemingly made the correct statement to appear to be aligned with Cerberus

Jacob didn't seem too happy with the answer but his part in the Reaper War was minor, he died on the collector base buying shepard time to face the Human Reaper

While shepherd planned to save him this time he wasn't trying to make Jacob his best friend, 'that reminds me I need to find Garrus as soon as I can'

Miranda began with the second question

"So shepard at the end when Sovereign was defeated you were asked to nominate someone for the citadel council who did you choose"

Shepard clearly remembered considering Udina but his decision to stand in shepherds way when he was hunting after Saren made the choice Anderson

"I chose Captain Anderson for the Citadel Council"

"Correct but why did you make the choice to select someone with no political experience"

"Politics is the poison that clogs the arteries of the beating heart of human progress, the council laws have swallowed humanity. While the ability to trade information and technology has allowed humanity to grow it has also dragged us down into their stagnation"

Jacob jumped in once more

"Interesting answer shepard"

Miranda followed

"Quite, a bit poetic but accurate nonetheless, so tell me shepard what answers might you have suggested for human advancement"

Shepard almost smirked knowing his answer was going to be coming in out of nowhere

"The Quarians"

As the words passed through shepards lips a look of confusion slapped into place on Jacobs face, but Miranda merely raised an eyebrow

'What could shepards answer indicate, he has always has a propensity for finding valuable qualities in nonhuman species but why would he suggest the galactic Pariah as the answer to humanity's future, I need to know'

Soon the answer shepard wanted slipped from her lips

"Elaborate"

"It's quite simple really, the Quarian people are naturally inclined towards technological and Naval research but they have been crippled by a distinct lack of resources and an absolute lack of a colony to live upon"

"So what you're suggesting is for the alliance to take in the Quarians and expend vast amount of resources, while it might have a pay off doing so would be foolish as it would be in direct opposition to the councils decision to deny them any worlds as punishment for the creation fi the geth"

"That's indeed true but what your failing to account for is that the majority of the quarian people aren't invested in laying claim to their homeworld, most just want a home and the knowledge that their dextro nature makes any supplies and colonies that they claim within alliance space fully beneficial and in supplying them with such a space humanity could easily in time consume them and induct them into our influence"

"Well while your answer has merit it remains unusable as the time until the reapers arrive seems to be all too close"

"You are right, this was merely a hypothetical conversation. As things are there simply isn't enough time nor is the idea without its great amount of hurdles"

Jacob spoke up again after having his focus drift as the conversation got too dry for him

"So back to your choice to select anders, you did so for a good reason i presume"

"Of course, I've known Anderson long enough to know that he isn't someone to buckle under pressure nor is he someone who would allow politics to sway him, humanity needed a strong firm hand to push back against the interest that would see us staying weak"

"So your choice was based on familiarity and in the fact that he was a person if military background"

"In simple terms yes"

This seemed to satisfy Jacob

Meanwhile Miranda grew very silent choosing to spend the rest of the flight contemplating shepards answers

Meanwhile shepard was exhausted, the combat on the station and the growing amount of plans he means to implement had drained him of what energy he had

Shepard closed his eyes needing to rest for his meeting with the illusive man

And in time all he knew was darkness.

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 **You know guys this story is kinda roughly written out because I've been spending too much time without writing anything so don't be too mean just because i'm rusty give me time to get back at it**

 **Anyway till next time**

 **Faithless here saying**

" **Feed the wanderer"**


End file.
